The seedy young fellow obeyed, and so grateful was the rest and warmth that before the appetizing meal was brought he fell asleep.
“Poor fellow!” thought the sympathizing young physician, stopping in his excited tramp across the room, and scrutinizing more closely the threadbare garb and cadaverous face.
He gave a violent start, and muttered:
“I have seen the fellow before—but where?”
He began to rack his memory in order to fit the poor wretch into his proper niche.
The waiter entered with the supper before he had succeeded in his effort.
“Come, wake up; here is food!” he said, shaking him until he shambled up, and, scenting the food with the avidity of a starving hound, he rushed to the table.
The sympathetic young physician exclaimed:
“Slowly now at first, or you may make yourself ill after so long a fast.”
The hungry wretch with difficulty restrained himself from devouring the food at a rate sufficient to choke himself, and gloated over it with a sort of rapture that precluded even a glance at his benefactor.